xfirechief

She says no to a full size SUV yet complains she wants more room.
Whats up with thinking like that?

jfelbab

I've not experienced that with my 04 RX. It is a great touring car, well controlled and very smooth. I did have an 08 RX loaner a while back with 17" wheels that felt exactly that way. I told the service manager that if my 04 had driven like that I would have not purchased it. He blamed overinflated tires but I'm now beginning to wonder if the suspension has been changed.

jfelbab

For me, I spend a lot of freeway time. Like I said my 04 feels great. I've replaced the OEM tires with Bridgestone Alenzas and it handles great. True it is not firm like my MR2 nor soft like my old LS but I consider it closer to just right for a SUV.

But hey you're entitled to your opinion and I mine.

davidsong

wow... this is turning into a battleground.....

we should be helping each other out..

ecount00

whatever you trade it for, take a look at the cargo space and sit in the back seat for a while. notice small things like if there is a 3rd row of seating. if you want a 'lux' car, whatever your personal definition is is all that matters. it's pretty easy to find out what the financial hit will be for trading it now. then you can decide if you are unhappy enough with it to move on. good luck

RXkillah

I just so happened to visit the Lexus IS 2nd Generation forum, and they had a post mentioning that the members needed to start building a stronger sense of community in the forum. Maybe you guys should adopt that here???? People come here for advice, not to be ridiculed and criticized for their choices!!!

tjain

I agree, off late I have seen members being criticized or replying mockingly if they bring up issues or asking opinions that they are facing with their vehicle.

Everybody is not articulate in expressing the issue with their vehicle which sometimes sounds as if they are frustrated and do not know what to do.

The total memebers of this site is: 91,856 and counting , which is less than half of the number of vehicles Lexus sold last year in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:S...,_Lexus_US.png

Many people surf this site as members and anonymously for very good information/advice and experiences (good or bad) from other members with their vehicle.

Just an FYI.. I have a 07 RX350 ( 14 K miles) and we have been happy with the vehicle's performance/reliability so far , no rattles and other problems people post here. The only dislikes are the quickly wearing Good Year tires and the Lexus navigation which is almost useless while driving.

BounceNY

iTrader: (9)

I was about to say, I hope she will come back and update us on her decision.

Lil4X

Whoa guys, let's confine this discussion to the OP's question about the suitably of the RX for road-trips with the family. We've gotten far astray from Doglady's question, and the opinions of ride/handling are not providing an answer. We split the thread to separate out the ride/handling issue and gave it it's own thread.

Please, let's be careful about making insulting remarks to our members.

Back on the subject at hand, if DL hasn't left the forum in disgust . . .

Although I don't carry a small child, I spend a good deal of time on the road with our RX 330. Here's what it looks like in roadtrip configuration -



This is the "war wagon" on location equipped for four days to a week. I usually pack to survive at least two-three days on location if necessary - a long way from a hotel or shower. Accommodations here are for one, but two may fit easily by folding down the back seats and using the additional cargo space. With this setup, everything fits under the cargo cover in the rear, and the only things visible in the rear seat is an athletic bag with my clothes for a week and a satchel for my laptop and "office" that goes into the hotel room with me.

Underfloor compartments have large first-aid and emergency kits, plus lightsticks, flashlights, and other tools and "survival" gear.

The padded blue bags in the rear contain the big professional video rig and tripod, with a three-light kit with stands and 3 25' 110v exterior extension cables underneath. A 5" portable color monitor gets squeezed in there too along with a box of digital video tape. The yellow case is the Pelican for my Canon still camera, with battery chargers for video, still camera, and laptop behind, all plugged into a powerstrip and the inverter. A green suit bag tops the stack with my "hanging" clothes for a week and helps keep dust off everything else. Small boxes with basic needs like water bottles, snacks, chemical hand warmers, earmuffs, light and heavy gloves, AA and AAA batteries, a clipboard, and shooting script. Another tray for boots, hats, and safety gear completes the rear package which can be completely hidden under the cargo cover.

The driver's door pocket carries a pair of FRS radios with VOX headsets for communication with another crew member when present, a good pair of small binoculars (saves walking), a small film camera, and a couple of lightweight koozies for beverages. The opposite door pocket carries a full set of maps.

The console is reserved for personal items, cell phone, iPod, coffee mugs, wet naps, eyeglass cleaners, toiletries (antacids, lip balm, hairbrush, comb), a place for my iPaq, and office supplies (pens, pads, stamps). The glove compartment holds a Leatherman tool, a ton of documentation, assorted cough drops, extra prescription meds, and a plastic bag of emergency fast-food supplements (sugar substitute, flavored creamers, salt, pepper, ketchup, salsa, etc.)

Under the driver's seat is the thick RX manual, while a nice "Lexus" hard-shell CD case resides under the passenger's seat to carry additional entertainment CD's. The seatback pockets carry a selection of movies when my wife and I are traveling (in which case the furball and her carrier substitute for the camera rig and light kit. The rear armrest carries a selection of demo DVD's for client presentations, along with the RSES remote. The rear door pockets store the headphones.

In the left rear floorboard, a sports bag for clothes is on the floor lashed to an airpot for coffee, and the left seat back folds down to provide a small desktop with portable photo printer for proofs, a laptop for processing and client work, plus spare ink and paper, a dozen photo frames for giveaways, and charger for the printer that slips into the rear for travel.

The right rear seat is where I run my photo lab and view field tape on the RSES screen. The right front seat, if unoccupied, gives me a place to stretch out with more room for sales work, phone calls, client database maintenance. The driver's seat gives me a place to recline and nap during delays, or entertain clients viewing field video on the nav screen. Who needs an office?

When everything is properly stowed, it is a tight package with all critical items easily accessible. (A big golf umbrella rides in the "hammock" between the rear seatback and the cargo cover.) It's rather surprising how much you can fit into this vehicle using soft-sided luggage properly sized - and a little experimentation working out the arrangements. With everything out of sight, I can quickly grab my bags and briefcase to carry to my room at night, while everything else is completely out of sight. If I need to carry in batteries and chargers for an overnight boost, they reside in the right-rear of the cargo area, accessible without disturbing the cargo cover.

Would I move up to a larger vehicle? I drove Suburbans for nearly 20 years, and station wagons before that for similar applications. Wagons don't really offer that much accessible space, although some of the older ones would haul larger volumes. The Suburbans were always the wrong size - too big with the third seat removed and everything wound up three feet from the tailgate after a couple of hard stops - or too small with the third seat in place. For me, I'd like a little more room, but given the choices, I'll stick with what I've got.

xfirechief

We too travel heavy each winter. WE head off to Florida for 8 weeks of warmth. Things we take with us, 2 sets of golf clubs, plug in Coleman cooler with lots of cheese products, 2 large suitcases, lap top, my car cleaning stuff. We do put down the rear seats though so we can get it all in. Then while down there my wifes purchases have to come back north with us. Not much room on the way home but for the rest of the year we use it like a SUV & still haul stuff around that would be impossible to get into a sedan. We love our RX.

jgr7

iTrader: (1)

We put 2 30" hard side rolling cases 1 22" carry on bag and a back pack, day pack size in the back with no problem at all, I do remove the cover though.

jfelbab

Like xfirechief, I head to Florida every winter with my 04 RX. I pack two 26" suitcases, a large dog kennel, three carry-on's, two laptop bags, a tool case, a soft case with all my car care items, a duffel loaded with dog stuff and a cooler and it all fits nicely in the back. Nothing stacks higher than the top of the back seat to interfere with visibility. The dog gets full run of the entire back seat.

The G Man

The old highlander only has a tad more cargo room than the RX350, not even noticable in my opinion. I think she just miss her old highlander, thats all. Although, I cant begin to understand why. The old Highlander handles terrible on the highway and it was way overdue for a re-design.

Kostyan

well..in our RX330, we tow a 2600 lb boat, carry 5 adults (including driver), and put stuff in the trunk. There're rooftop carriers for sale that can be put up on the roof rack, and hitch-mounted carriers for all sort of things. So our RX works perfectly fine for our family.

Our friends have an 05 GX470 and that's a larger SUV, with 4.7L v8 that gets the same MPG, or even better when under full load. I can understand comparison to that, which costs more than RX.

IMHO Highlander (prev version) is just plain ugly than any vehicles in Lexus lineup, but to each their own. Get a freakin' CHEVY SUBURBAN lol and enjoy $90 fill ups.

The G Man

My 05 GX470 use to get 13 mpg in town.